The ups and downs of Rowan unemployment figures are like the ups and downs of the stock market —unsettling to the stomach and perhaps better not watched on a day-to-day basis.
What do you say about an unemployment rate that zigzags from 8.3 percent in March to 4.4 percent in April and back up to (gulp) 11.4 percent in May? Plant closings and temporary shutdowns have destabilized the local economy and shaken up expectations. Our manufacturing base is shifting. Textiles could be disappearing altogether.
That’s the bad news. Yet there are glimmers of good news. Meridian Automotive has opened for business in the forever-vacant Quantum Films building, putting 15 people to work initially. If all goes well, the plant could employ 250 by August 2002.
No jobs were lost at Freightliner’s Rowan plant when the company announced another round of cuts Wednesday. National Starch has expanded its operation. Old Navy and Pier 1 are building new stores off Faith Road. Interest rates seem to have set off a spurt in the local real estate market, and gasoline prices have leveled off and declined slightly.
Those glimmers don’t quite offset the gloom of an 11.4 percent unemployment rate, but they do reflect confidence in the local market and local workers. And the slight decrease in gasoline prices may give consumers relief.
So all is not lost. But the unemployment rate is beating out a rhythm that the community can’t ignore. Textile jobs are leaving, leaving, leaving. Workers must prepare themselves for higher-skilled jobs.
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